


Rooftop Reunions

by Ashabadash



Series: Trope Tags [3]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Forgiveness, Post-Game, Second Chance Romance, They love each other, if they had facebook their relationship would be 'its complicated', trope tag, trope: second chance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24850492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashabadash/pseuds/Ashabadash
Summary: “Why are you always so trusting of others?” She asked the AI, already knowing the answer.“I learned it from you,” SAM said...More than a year since the Collective's failed attempt at a coup, Sara Ryder receives a mysterious email, asking her to meet up with an old friend.
Relationships: Female Ryder | Sara/Reyes Vidal
Series: Trope Tags [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706512
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Rooftop Reunions

Sara was near asleep at her desk, glaring at a datapad when SAM flickered to life on his console next to her desk.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Sara,” SAM said. “But an important message is coming through to your email.”

“And since when do you alert me to email notifications?” Sara asked, already moving to pull up her email.

“Since said email arrived heavily encrypted and sent by Reyes Vidal,” SAM replied. Sara paused. But she had thought...

“Reyes...” she put her hands in her lap and sat back from her desk. She hadn’t spoken to him since that night in the cave. Since he attempted to take control of Kadara by killing Sloane. That was nearly a year ago, what could he want now?

“Maybe he wants to make amends,” SAM offered. Sara gave him a long side-eye.

“Why are you always so trusting of others?” She asked the AI, already knowing the answer.

“I learned it from you,” SAM said. Sara smiled and sighed deeply before opening the email.

_Meridian. Tuesday. Sundown._

Sara’s eyes narrowed at those three simple words. No “hey how are you.” No “long time no see.”

“Well I’m not going,” Sara said out loud, pushing away from the desk and standing up to pace. “How dare he ask me to meet him? After all this time?” she paced a bit longer and then looked back at the computer. “Unless he’s in trouble... or hurt...” she shook her head. “No, I don’t care.”

“Don’t care about what?” Sara nearly jumped a foot in the air. When she turned around, Scott was leaning against the doorframe, smirking and eating from a box of Blast-O’s.

“Don’t sneak up on me!” Sara growled. Scott simply shrugged and walked inside the room.

“I repeat, “Don’t care about what?” Sara just gestured at the computer and Scott strolled over and scanned the email. He let out a low whistle.

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do?” Scott asked, shoving another handful of cereal in his mouth.

“I’m not going to do anything,” Sara crossed her arms. “He tried to kill a person and used me to get to her.”

“And...” Sara looked at him incredulously. “What? Sloane Kelley’s the worst! I would have let him shoot her.”

“Good thing you weren’t there to make that call then,” Sara sighed. She sat on her desk, looking exhausted again. Scott offered her the box and she took a handful, eating the marshmallows first. The twins were silent for a moment.

“So....we’re going to Meridian?” Scott asked. “It’s probably a good idea. We need to restock before heading to Eos. Gil would be thrilled to spend some more time with Meri. The Tempest could get a quick tune up. I probably should have a meeting with Director Addison before she yells at us again.”

“I told you she is a tough woman to please.” Sara laughed. She took a moment to think and then finally gave in.

“Fine,” she stood up. “We’ll go, but I’m going to figure out what he wants and then I’m going to end things once and for all.”

\-----------------------------------------------------

Sara asked Scott not to tell the team what was really going on when they landed on Meridian. So naturally, the whole team knew.

“I think you should leave your gun behind,” Liam said as Sara shrugged on her leather jacket.

“I think you should shoot him,” Cora countered.

“This is why I tell Tann our team is so well balanced,” Sara rolled her eyes. She did leave her gun behind though, Liam may have had a point. “I’ll be back in 24 hours. Cora’s in charge until then. Don’t cause trouble.”

“Don’t cause trouble? I’m sorry, which one of us is heading off to a secret rendezvous with an intergalactic crime boss?” Vetra said and the team laughed.

“I hate all of you,” Sara said light-heartedly as she walked off the Tempest. It was getting dark, and people in the colony they had settled were starting to turn in for sleep. The email didn’t specify where she was supposed to meet Reyes, but she had a feeling she knew the place. She climbed on top of the remains of the crashed Hyperion, all the way to the top of the ship, above where the bridge once was. She sat with her back against an exhaust box and looked out to the planet she had helped find nearly a year ago.

Meridian truly was a golden world.

She didn’t turn around when she heard movement behind her. Didn’t say anything when someone slowly sat beside her and placed two glasses between them. Didn’t even look his way as he sat and looked at her for what felt like years.

“You look like you’re waiting for someone,” Reyes said smoothly. Sara turned to look at him, and she almost forgot how angry she was with him when she saw that smile.

Almost.

Reyes hadn’t changed a bit. His dark hair was slicked back just as it always was, though a little longer than Sara remembered. The creases around his eyes were deeper with worry and fatigue. Sara guessed it must be harder to be a covert leader of the Collective when everyone knew the truth about his identity now.

“You look good,” he said, and Sara realized she hadn’t said anything yet since he arrived.

“Reyes,” she said slowly. She looked down at the glasses he set between them. There was a dark brown liquid in them and she raised her eyebrow at him. “Seriously?”

“I figured a reunion called for a celebration,” he said, charming as ever. He lifted the glasses and handed her one. She took it. “Also, we should celebrate your heroic finding of this fine planet,” he gestured out to Meridian.

“That happened ten months ago,” Sara said. “We had a party, you didn’t show up.”

“I was otherwise indisposed,” he said simply. “Sloane staying in power meant the Collective had to do some damage control.”

“So you’re still with the Collective,” Sara asked, sipping her whiskey.

“Yes,” Reyes said with a curt nod. “Though I’ve had some help lately.”

“I heard somewhere that Keema was running things these days,” Sara said, not looking at him as the sun made its way down past the horizon. “I also heard somewhere you died.”

“A rumor I didn’t start but that turned out to be a lot more helpful than I expected,” Reyes looked at her. Sara kept her jaw tight. When that particular piece of information made it to the Tempest, she felt like her heart broke all over again. She couldn’t leave her room for a week, Cora had to take on some Pathfinder duties until she fully recovered.

“You could have told me you weren’t dead,” she said.

“I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me,” Reyes said simply, but his voice was sad. He put his drink down. “Truthfully, I didn’t think you would show up today...”

“So why have I been summoned?” Sara asked, anger bubbling deep in her gut. She finally turned to look at him. “What does the great Charlatan need from the Human Pathfinder?”

“I need nothing from the Pathfinder,” Reyes said honestly. “I reached out because I missed you.” He put his glass down. “I missed you and I owe you an apology. Truthfully, I owed you an apology over a year ago, but I...” he sighed. “I didn’t want you to look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you hate the very thought of my existence,” Reyes said and Sara turned away. They were quiet for a moment before Reyes started again. “I’m sorry I used your status as Pathfinder to try and usurp Sloane. It wasn’t my intention to...”

“It was your intention though,” Sara interrupted. “Since the minute you found out you’d be meeting and working with the Pathfinder, you saw an opportunity.” Sara pointed a finger at him. “All those missions out in the Badlands, that mission with your ex, and investigating the murders, that was all to bring me over to your cause.”

“That was the start,” Reyes agreed. “But it wasn’t my intention to fall in love with you.” That made Sara stop her rant mid-breath. “Yeah...” Reyes said. “I meant to tell you that more eloquently...”

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth from the start?” Sara asked. “I would have helped you take down Sloane without killing her...”

“The Pathfinder couldn’t help the Collective, we’re pretty much a terrorist group in the Nexus’ eyes...”

“No, but I would have helped you,” she pressed her forefinger into his chest. “Do you think I like working with Sloane? The woman is insane. She puts people’s heads on spikes!” She threw her hands up in the air.

“See you should have let me take the shot,” Reyes pointed out.

“You know I couldn’t have done that,” she looked at him sadly. “If you loved me like you say you did, you knew I would never have let you.” She turned from him again and finished her drink, looking sadly out to the horizon.

“I know that,” Reyes said. He also finished his drink. “It’s not past tense by the way.”

“What?” Sara looked at him.

“I still love you,” he clarified. “I’ve never stopped.”

“You hurt me,” Sara replied. “You hurt me, lied to me, and without any explanation. And then you...” _died_. She wanted to finish, but saying it out loud was still too hard, even with him sitting beside her, clearly alive.

“I know I did.” At least he had the sense to look ashamed. “Sara...” he put his hand on hers, she didn’t pull away. “For the last year, I’ve been trying to be a better man than I was before.” She didn’t look towards him, but he continued. “You showed me that one person could make a difference, and with the Collective, I’ve been trying to do the same.”

She wanted to believe him, but a voice in her head kept seeing the man in the cave, standing up high above them all, being de-masked as a liar.

“The shipment of medical supplies that got to Eos after the sandstorm?” Reyes said. “The Collective took it out of Roekaar hands just a month before. And the decryption key that helped lock onto the Quarian’s ship?” Sara looked up at him. “We spent weeks on that code and then it took forever to get someone on the inside to upload the key.”

“That was the Collective?” Sara gaped. Reyes nodded.

“Ever since you found Meridian, the Collective has been working hard to help make Andromeda a better place to be.” Reyes’ fingers curled around hers. “I just wanted to...”

“...be somebody?” She asked, looking up at him, remembering sitting just like this on the rooftops of Kadara.

“Be somebody you would be proud of,” Reyes said, and Sara saw the pain and honesty in his eyes. “You have every right to be angry with me, I deserve that. I just...” he sighed. “I wanted to meet with you and tell you that I’m working to be better. I just wanted you to know...” He squeezed her hand and then let go, standing up.

“Reyes...”

“Thank you for meeting with me,” he said. “You didn’t have to, but I wanted to share my piece.” She looked up at him. He smiled at her, the same smile he gave her when he escaped the cave and disappeared from her life. When he turned away, Sara’s breath caught, and she knew what she had to do.

“Reyes,” she got up quickly, knocking over the glasses as she scrambled to her feet. Reyes turned around as she rushed to him. When she got close she wrapped her arms around him.

“Sara...”

“Don’t go,” she whispered, her face pressed into his chest. “Don’t disappear again.” Reyes wrapped his arms around her and held her close, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

They held each other close, Sara’s forehead on Reyes’ shoulder, Reyes’ face in her hair. Reyes kept whispering apologies, Sara kept begging him not to leave. Not again.

“I love you,” Reyes finally whispered. Sara looked up at him.

“I love you too,” Sara said, her hand cupping his cheek. “I know you work in shadows and secrets,” she said quietly. “Secrets I can handle, but no more lies, okay?” Reyes smiled then and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Thank you,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Found a list of popular tropes on Tumblr one day. Today's Trope: Second Chance


End file.
